Many different commercial and industrial fluid systems can have problems with turbidity, corrosion, scaling, deposition, biological fouling, etc. Various chemical solutions can be used to treat and reduce such problems in fluid systems. Currently, a purchaser of treatment chemicals must consult chemical selection guides to find a chemical treatment that may solve a particular problem they have encountered with their fluid system. Unfortunately, chemical selection guides typically present a limited number of situations where problems are encountered. In addition, the selection guides cannot be readily updated and are not automated. Therefore, the purchaser using the selection guides may purchase chemicals that are not well-tailored to their needs due to the overall complexity of treatment problems.
Companies offering chemical treatments for fluid systems have been striving to provide customers with improved services. To provide better service, the companies have relied primarily on greater access to sales persons and technical personnel familiar with various chemical treatments appropriate for particular problems encountered by purchasers. For example, a sales person questions a customer about the customer's system and problem. The questions elicit specific information about the system, such as the type of system, the service the system provides (e.g., heating, cooling, or supply water), the heating or cooling load, the quality of the water supply, the evaporative or other losses expected, the throughput, the metallurgy of the piping and other equipment in the system, and the operating conditions of the system. After eliciting the information from the purchaser, the sales person performs an analysis. For example, the sales person may consult a selection guide or the like to determine which treatment chemicals are best-suited to address the customer's problem. Unfortunately, the availability of sales persons can be limited, and the sale persons are required to know about a number of fluid systems, problems, solutions, chemicals, prices, formulas, etc. Furthermore, the chemical treatment industry has traditionally recommended treatment chemicals within a portfolio of standard off-the-shelf proprietary chemicals, which are often not uniquely tailored to a purchaser's requirements.
Therefore, a need exists for an automated solution system having a structured data-entry process that allows a user with a fluid treatment problem to find a specific chemical treatment solution uniquely tailored to the needs of the prospective purchaser. The subject matter of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.